11 Reasons To Shoot Film | I STILL SHOOT FILM

24/02/2011 Comments Off on 11 Reasons To Shoot Film | I STILL SHOOT FILM

1. Film is cool. Seriously. The scientific process of capturing an image on film, developing and then printing it on paper is one of the most awesome thing you can ever see. It’s like magic.

2. Film produces a tangible result. In the modern world, technology has allowed us to do everything digitally… in fact I haven’t seen what my resume actually looks like on printed paper in over 5 years. With digital photographs, you never have one tangible original, from which you can make infinite copies…

3. Photographic paper prints have a longer archival life. Say what you want, but even my most expensive fancy-pants digital prints still get yellowing on the corners after several years… which is why many professional labs still use cibachrome printing even for digital.

4. Film cameras are badass. They are not the light-weight, silent wimpy cameras of today. You can use a quality film camera to take great photographs or defend your life if necessary.

5. Most Photoshop effects applied to digital photos are designed to mimic effects achieved through film. Why not just do it that way in the first place?

6. Using film means that when you take a photograph, a chemical reaction absorbs the moment on a light-sensitized surface. That is somehow more powerful than a computer chip’s interpretation of an image.

7. Learning how to shoot film helps you understand light and shadow, which can also improve your digital photos.

8. Limited exposures means you have to actually think about your shot. Need I say more?

9. Unless you have a $30,000 digital camera, shooting film will always give you a higher resolution if scanned correctly. A 35mm negative has the equivalent of approximately 25.1 megapixels, so imagine a 6×9 negative. We’re talking murals in crisp detail.

10. Black and white. Yes. Removing color from a digital photograph is not the same as shooting in black and white film and it never, ever will be. Ever. The art of black and white film alone is reason enough to keep manufacturing film forever.

11. The darkroom is zen. It has soothing red lights, relaxing running water and the soft click of your timer. Take a deep breath and smell the stop bath. Yum.